Legislation is already being drafted for lawmakers to take up the issue in 2019, the passage of which would add Minnesota to a growing list of states that have legalized betting on professional and college sports.

Minnesota United FC sought to host the 89th edition of the St. John’s-St. Thomas extravaganza at the new Allianz Field for the same reason the Twins booked the 2017 game at Target Field: a serious payday.

On the same weekend that U.S. Bank Stadium will host two days of college hoops as a prelude to April’s NCAA Final Four, it’s worth revisiting what Hamline and its toasty arena used to be: the capital of college basketball in Minnesota.

Before the NBA career, before the lengthy second act as a Minnesota Timberwolves television analyst and Minnesota Lynx assistant coach, Jim Petersen was an exceptionally big deal in basketball in the state of Minnesota. Think Tyus Jones, only taller.

Teary retirement press conferences are almost a cliché, but the rawness of this from someone so soft-spoken and stoic was something else. Mauer being Mauer, he even apologized to anyone he forgot to thank, promising to make up for it privately in the coming weeks.

In the top of the 9th inning, with no one on the field except the umpires, Mauer emerged from the Twins dugout in his old catching gear. Mauer had to be talked into this final gesture, which his father suggested to his wife about a month ago.

It’s hard to imagine Mauer in another uniform. But with Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar gone, would the Twins retain a .276-hitting first baseman who hasn’t come close to 20 homers since his 2009 MVP season?